In a message dated 98-02-11 23:56:36 EST, you write: << Good point. You should also have lace-up shoes with a heel (not tennis shoes or "light hikers") and a hard hat. This, plus approved safety glasses are essential if you want to enter a working railroad property. If you are shooting around track workers, add one of those orange "visi-vests" to your list. >>
Which brings up another important rule of mine (even though it's not carried in your camera bag): Look and act like you belong there. Don't dress in a way to advertise yourself as a non-railroader, don't stand around inside an engine facility, don't step on rails or do anything else stupid. Keep your head about you and "hide in plain sight". Tennis shoes will get railroader's attention faster than being naked in public. Just don't wear em anywhere around rr property or be prepared to suffer the consequences, the least of which is getting run off the property (getting the boot??...sorry couldn't resist that one). I LIKE having the bottom of my foot and my ankles protected against ballast, spikes sticking upside down in the ballast, nails, and all the other stuff you can run into along the tracks (snakes, briars, you get the general idea...). Leave the tennies in the car until you get back to the motel. There's no place for em on the railroad. Mark -> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects -> Web Site: http://www.anet-stl.com/acphotog/sporrs -> Message © SPORRS® 1998 - All Rights Reserved
